San Diego Padres Game

On Friday evening when we arrived in San Diego, I stayed at the hotel with the twins, while Daddy took Connor to his first Padres Game. All the boys went (Colin, my dad, Nathan, Mr. Howard, and Connor). It was 80's night at the stadium and they gave these sunglasses to people as they walked in. 

 Daddy and Connor:

 My dad and my uncle Nathan:

 Connor and the Padres player, Dale Thayer:

Connor's first stadium hotdog!

Mr. Howard, my brother Colin, my uncle Nathan, and Connor:

Connor and his uncle Colin:

 Back at the hotel, I gave Aiden a bath in the sink (there was no bathtub in the hotel!). Aiden was not super thrilled about it and Isabella wouldn't even come near me when I tried to bathe her. Ha!

I don't think I mentioned this in my last post, but we decided to stay at the US Grant Hotel in downtown and we loved it! Here is a picture of the outside taken from the US Grant's website:

 

And the inside Lobby:

Here was our hotel room at the US Grant:

I'll be honest, I was super nervous at those white comforters, but we did pretty well.

 

While the boys were gone at the baseball game, Aiden and Isabella got to visit with their Nana, Great Granna, and Great Aunt in the hotel for about 30 minutes before they went to bed. I was thankful they came over because it tuckered them out and gave them a nice distraction.

 

After the visit, Aiden and Isabella went to bed quickly and I sat in the dark (on my phone - so as not to wake the babies) until the boys came home. After our last trip to Monterey (which ended in Mr. Howard and I coming home after an hour in the hotel), I was VERY nervous. But thankfully, they were all so tuckered out that they went down within a few minutes.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...it's off to San Diego We Go!

Oh goodness. Our house is a mess. There are laundry piles in every room. We haven't put any of the kids clothes away since we moved in (we only own one dresser! And now we have three rooms...). I could go on and on.

So what does a perfectly reasonable person do? Pretend the mess isn't there and go on a mini vacation to watch her little brother graduate from LAW SCHOOL! Duh.

On Friday morning at about 5:30 in the morning we got Connor and Izzy up (Aiden flew - so we let him sleep in) and ate breakfast and the kids and I got all settled for our 9-hour drive. Connor and me before getting in the car:

 And you want to see the funniest photo below? (Can you tell it is RIDICULOUSLY early and I haven't had my coffee yet? Look at how tiny my eyes are). Look at Connor's face. What a crack up!

And then we gave kisses all around:

You may remember that Mr. Howard wasn't driving with us, because he had a work function he couldn't miss. So he flew out later that afternoon.

 

We busted through the first 4.5 hours pretty quickly, which was miraculous because it's the most boring drive!!

 We stopped at McDonald's for happy meals at the half-way mark. I wanted to let the kids get out and stretch their legs and I knew I'd need to change Miss Isabella.

 They were both pretty thrilled to people-watch, stretch their legs, and eat some chicken.



It should have taken us 9 hours, but it took us about 11 (to the hotel). We left at 6:30am and arrived at our hotel at 5:45pm. The infuriating part was that Mr. Howard left Sacramento at 3pm and arrived at 4pm. We picked him up from the airport at 4:45pm and we hadn't stopped at all except for lunch. SOO JEALOUS!!!

My mom and sister flew with Aiden (that had been our plan for several weeks - because my mom so GRACIOUSLY offered to take one kid to help relieve my drive). I can't tell you what a difference it is only having two kids. It is 100% manageable. And, honestly, it doesn't even matter which child is gone. I wonder if that's what people with four or more kids think about having only three kids. Ha!

Here are a few pictures of Aiden's journey (I don't have any photos of him on the actual airplane. Hopefully my sister will send a few to me soon!). It was his very first plane ride and I am soooo bummed I couldn't be there with him for it. But I'm happy he is so loved by my family!

Grandfather and Aiden at the airport:

 My dad and Aiden:

 My mom and Aiden:

 My sister and Aiden

When they arrived, they went out to lunch with my brother, Rebecca, and her sister and nephew!

From left to right: My mom, Aiden, Colin, Valerie, Rebecca, Jake, and My Dad (my sister took the photo):

That evening I stayed with the babies in the hotel, while Mr. Howard took Connor to his first baseball game with all the boys. So that this post doesn't get too long, I'll blog about the other parts of our trip in another post.

We're enlisting my little helpers

My heart is broken for all the people in Oklahoma. Just broken. I cannot fathom the devastation. It is gut wrenching to imagine. And I know that Oklahoma is not the only place to experience awful, awful weather recently.

I am snuggling my kiddos extra tonight, giving them more kisses, and praying down on my knees for all those families. The stories of moms and dads looking for their missing children makes me want to curl into a ball and stay there for a week. I absolutely cannot imagine. But if there's anything I've learned, it's that we go on. Because we have no choice. And what we need to do is wrap those people in love, resources, and any sort of support you are capable of giving.

 

We're enlisting my little helpers below to pray for everyone and hope you'll join us.

*Pictures taken on Mother's Day

Building Our Home - Blinds

Are you sick of house updates?

 

One of the very first things Mr. Howard did when we moved in was installed the television over the fireplace. I'm pretty sure he was in electronics Heaven because we've never had a wall pre-wired for television before (so that there aren't any wires showing at all). The next thing he did, before we even had our bedroom and bathroom unpacked, was installed the surround sound speakers in the family room. Again, we had that pre-wired before they drywalled, so all we have are the speakers in our ceiling.  

 The next thing on our to-do list was to buy blinds. We purchased them the day we moved in (Saturday, May 4th). They told us it'd take several days to get the blinds in and custom cut, but they phoned us the next day and told us they had arrived. 26 blinds sitting there and ready to be installed.

 Our first priority was the bathroom (so we could shower without giving a show to all the construction workers who had a perfect line of sight straight into our shower):

 Next was our bedroom:

 We are NO WHERE near done decorating, unpacking, setting things up - but I just wanted to show you the blinds in the family room:

 And the kitchen:

 And our formal living room:

 And the butler's pantry:

We still have Aiden's room, Isabella's room, the playroom, the laundry room, and the guest bedroom left to do. But we're making major progress. Next time we build a house, I'm purposely going to pick the house floorplan that has the least amount of windows (one big window instead of four in a room). Ha! At least we're experts now! Anyone need some blinds installed?!?

 

After blind installation, we have three top priorities: (1) UNPACK!!!! (2) Backsplash (3) Landscape Plans for the backyard...oh...and did I mention we still need to unpack?!?!?

I'm going to be quiet on the blog for the next few days as I'm leaving for San Diego this morning to celebrate my little brother's GRADUATION FROM LAW SCHOOL!!!!!!! Holy Moly Zoly. I'm so excited. He is amazing! I am leaving this morning (beware would-be burglars: we have someone house-sitting, plus an alarm!) and will back at the end of the weekend.

Building Our Home - Island Construction

We had to mock up the kitchen island (and get it all screwed together into one piece), so that my dad could make the baseboards to the right size. He came over Sunday, May 12 and helped Mr. Howard get it all set up.

 

Here are all the sides. This will be the front where the barstools go - with hidden cabinets for things we don't use very often.

This will be for all our small spices  (it is the side closest to our sink):

This is the side for our bigger oils and cooking spices:

This was the side for the drawers (side closest to the oven) before installing the drawers:

Here's the island after my dad and hubby installed the drawers (these will be for pots and pans!):

 And here's the island with the barstools (and Isabella). We are thinking (Yikes! We only have a few days left to decide) of matching the color to the barstools - so a sort of black with an antique treatment to it. But then I go back and forth because I'm not sure if I want to go lighter. Ahhh. Decisions, decisions...

We are supposed to be sending everything off  (all the cabinet fronts, trim pieces, and corbel legs) to the painter at the beginning of next week - which means we REALLY have to make a decision. Eeek.

Mother's Day

First off, I want to say that for those of you who so desperately want to be Mamas, I am praying for you. I remember how hard Mother's Day was when we were struggling with infertility and I know that what I experienced is NOTHING compared to the struggles that a lot of you are going through. And for those of you who have lost children, I am also praying for you. Since I have three other children here on this earth, Mother's Day is mostly a joyous day, but it is also definitely a day when Cole is on my heart. He would have been three-years-old this Mother's Day and, while I know he is so happy and healthy in Heaven, my heart aches for him to be here in my arms - rambunctious, inquisitive, and all.

My one Mother's Day wish was to get a good picture with all three of my kids, but alas, that did not happen this weekend. I'm not giving up, though. Hopefully I can get one this weekend at my brother's Law School Graduation. Bound and determined, friends. Bound and determined.

 

My day started out about 5:30am, when a certain someone *Cough Cough* Connor.

Mr. Howard had to work and so I was home with the kids by myself. I really wanted donuts, but knew I couldn't carry all three in by myself (plus donuts) - so I did what any sane person would do. I drove to the nearest Krispy Kreme and used their drivethrough!

 Oh my goodness. Heaven. This was the first time I gave the babies donuts and they EACH ate an entire donut by themself. I have no idea where they got that from.

Aiden and Mama

 Connor and Mama during naptime (I was a sucker and let him sleep in my bed!)

Isabella and Mama

Oh my goodness; these photos that our preschool did of the kids are AMAZING!!! Aiden was sick and didn't go to school on Friday, so I'm hoping and crossing my fingers a million times over that they do a make up for him (they said they would, but I know how busy things can get).

Here was my picture with the kids. Isn't it the most amazing picture you've ever seen? Aiden's crying... Connor's sun-glared out...Izzy's looking, but not smiling...Ha! This is what life with three kids three-years-old and younger is really like!

Opening my presents from the kids:

Connor's Photo:

 And Isabella's Photo:

I hope you all had a wonderful mother's day with your sweet babies.

Our Saturday

On Saturday morning we woke up early and noticed that Connor was in our bed. Neither Mr. Howard nor I can remember getting Connor or letting him in our bed. I wonder if we both just slept through it. We were both super tired as Mr. Howard didn't get home until 1:30am and we had to be up at 6am! 

 

First we went to Starbucks and then headed over to the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5k. We always walk/run in honor of the other Mrs. Howard (Mr. Howard's mom) who fought breast cancer, won, and is now cancer free.

 Daddy and Connor. He was being a little turkey and only wanted to be held the entire walk. We got our arm workout, in addition to legs that day!

 The twins. Ahh. Seriously - look at them! (Despite how it looks, they are not eating Cheetos, I promise. They are fishy crackers.)

 I had to get a picture of the sign. I loved the shirts this year (the "Be Inspired" shirts. Survivors wore pink shirts with SURVIVOR and the number of years on it)! We showed up too late and didn't get to pick up our shirts (boo!!):

 We carried Aiden about a fourth of the way too.

 Her sweet pigtails. I'm in love with pigtails.

 I saw the balloons and thought, "this would make such a cute picture!" And then Isabella smiled and was all cute. And then Aiden...well, Aiden, thought the balloons were spectacular. So spectacular, in fact, that no matter how much we sang and snapped and bounced him - he wouldn't break eye contact with them. Ha! You know what though? These pictures are beginning to be my favorite ones. They are the real moments.

 And because the kids wouldn't cooperate in photos, I went to my go-to guy for a picture.

While it was hot, hot, hot - we were thankful and happy to be able to do the walk, raise a little money, and show the kids that it's important to donate time and money to causes you're passionate about.